Bob Williams: Is insanity the new normal, or the old?

Perhaps we are shocked often enough that we become numb. Insane or illogical happenings are so commonplace that we forget how really weird, and sometimes dangerous, things become. An example of this: On October 22, in L'Aquila, Italy, a judge sentenced 7 people to six-year prison terms each for criminal manslaughter, and ordered them to pay almost $12 million. Their crime? They failed to accurately predict the time and magnitude of an earthquake. The townspeople generally approved of the sentences. This is insane.

The convicted included four earthquake scientists, two engineers and one government official. They were members of a risk-assessment commission asked to study ongoing seismic tremors around L'Aquila. They reported to city officials that they were unable to make a detailed prediction about whether ongoing tremors might indicate a coming disaster. Six days later a magnitude-6.3 earthquake killed 309 people in that city. The court considered this akin to criminal negligence. One of the convicted scientists, 74-year-old physicist Claudio Evo, called the decision "medieval."

Here in the U.S. we have a simpler case of galloping illogic that should have stunned people even more than it did. This is the well-known statement by senatorial candidate Richard Mourdock (R-Ind.). Mourdock believes that a woman who becomes pregnant as a result of rape should carry the embryo in her womb and bear a child. In defense of this position he said, "And I think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen." Just as in the Italian court sentence, this is medieval.

Think of it. If God intended this to happen then the rapist was carrying out God's will. The logic of Mourdock's view would lead him to say — if any logic were involved — that rape is not a crime, the rapist is only carrying out God's will. Does anyone else see insanity in such a position?

Over 100 years ago Mark Twain saw the idiocy in such arguments. Christian fundamentalism had its first stirrings in the last quarter of the 19th century. This movement was largely a reaction against findings in a number of sciences that challenged a literal interpretation of the Old Testament. It was a time of much discussion of God's plan, God's purpose and intent. Mark Twain, clear thinker that he was and aspiring curmudgeon, made great satirical fun of these claims — and of their potential consequences. These writings were later included in a book entitled "Letters from the Earth."

Mark Twain's satires had much less influence on American thought than did his characters, Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. In any event, the pernicious argument that a crime is God's will is a bit of insanity that shocks us only briefly, and then we go on.

The two cases cited above are not insane in the medical sense, but they are irrational enough to merit the term. A far more vicious form of irrationality can be seen in the behavior of the Taliban of Pakistan. Their most recent foray into notoriety was their shooting of the 14-year-old schoolgirl Malala Yousaf Zai. They stopped her school bus, identified her, and shot her in the face. Why? Because she thought for herself. She posted these thoughts on her blog, where the Taliban saw them. Shooting Malala was an outrage that has been condemned as much in the Muslim world as in the Western world. The Taliban pushed their religious extremism too far and, we hope, have harmed their own cause.

Insane irrationality is alive and well in much of the world. Whether it has increased in frequency or not we cannot know. We can only hope that there will continue to be those like Malala who will fight against these insanities so that they do not become the new normal.

Bob Williams is a Millville rancher and a retired UCLA professor. His email address is wmranch@frontier.com.